Abortions drop more than 7 percent in Wisconsin

The number of abortions performed in Wisconsin dropped by more than 7 percent last year.

The Department of Health Services reported Friday that there were 7,249 abortions in 2011. That is down from 7,825 in 2010 for a drop of 7.3 percent.

It marks the second year in a row that abortions have gone down. Prior to an increase between 2008 and 2009, abortions had dropped for five straight years.

The rate of women aged 15-44 who had an abortion in 2011 was 6.3 per 1,000, down from 6.8 per 1,000 the year before. That is well below the national rate of 16 per 1,000 as of the most recent data available from 2008.

State law requires any facility that provides abortions to report statistics to the state.